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Cover: Alfredo GenoveseBook design: María Sol LitvacPhotos: Fernando Calzada

©2008 Genovese, Alfredo JorgeGrupo Ediciones Porteñas, 2011.Almirante F.J. Seguí 1465 - Ciudad de Buenos Aires - ArgentinaTel: ( 054 ) 11. 4581. 0798

Genovese, AlfredoThe book of filete porteño. - 1a ed.Buenos Aires : Grupo Ediciones Porteñas, 2011.120 p. ; 17x22 cm.

ISBN 978-987-22958-7-5

1. Fileteado. I. Título.CDD 745.7

Listing day: 26/10/2011

All rights reserved under international Copyright conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by means (electronic, mechanical, photocopy-ing or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of the copyright holder. Deposit mark according to law 11723

Previous page: Marcos Azulay, digital artwork.

Printed in Buenos Aires by Akian Gráfica Editora S.A. in december 2011.

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Alfredo Genovese

The book offilete porteño

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Purpose

Chapter 1. What is filete porteño ? 1.1 Review of filete porteño - Alfredo Genovese 1.2 Theoretical definition - Norberto Pablo Cirio 1.3 Anthology of filete legends

Chapter 2. Filete iconography 2.1 Design 2.2 Topics 2.3 Ornaments 2.4 Motifs and figuresChapter 3. Technique 3.1 Brushes and materials 3.2 Handling the brush 3.3 How to Make a Filete panel 3.4 Fonts

Index

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Chapter 4. Filete on Vehicles 4.1 Carts 4.2 Trucks 4.3 Buses 4.4 Cars

Chapter 5. Filete today 5.1 Signs 5.2 Advertising 5.3 Objects 5.4 Paintings 5.5 Clothing 5.6 Body painting 5.7 Tattoo 5.8 Murals

Backstage

Bibliography

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What is Filete Porteño?The work of man must be under-

stood and analyzed in its slow but

constant evolution, not frozen in a

certain period of time.

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Filete iconography

The ornamentation and shaping

chosen by early fileteadores in their

compositions are based on copies

of decorative elements that they

had access to in those times

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The first designs date back to filete ornaments painted in square panels on the sides of carts and lines or filetes that were made on their rails and rods.

Those basic early panels were of simple composition and were paint-ed using flat colours, without light or shadow effects but as time went by, fileteadores refined and enriched their techniques, making the designs more complex.

A relevant compositional aspect that can be found on these pan-els is the location of the design, where a free space can be found in between the design and the board edge. Nowadays, this free space is observed in most of the art work

and it is called “talón” (heel). When the heel

is insufficient the motifs appears

c o m p r e s s e d between the

edges and when it is excessive, the motifs appears to be floating in the media space.

When the heel is equidistant from all edges, there is a little more space left on the bottom, the same width as the shadow cast by the motif.

This balance between drawing and the space left free is the first factor to consider in the composi-tion. Moreover, the equilibrium is obtained by the symmetry of the grounds and the distribution of ele-ments throughout composition space. Where the motifs are asymmetrical, the heaviest part is placed on the left and the right space belongs to the band. The banda, or band, is a straight line that is painted inside, parallel to the edges of the panel, of variable thickness and volume. It can be detached from the base of the acanthus leaf or may be on the top, occupying the space between the two leaves when the subject is symmetrical. The band, with acan-thus leaf usually structures the whole composition.

Parallel to the band, towards the inside, the firulete, is painted. It is a thinner width line and has no vol-ume. If there is enough space, it can also be painted out, i.e inside the heel.

The bottom part compositions tend to be more filled with motifs than the upper, which is usually completed with straight-bands for the whole rests on this heavier base. Several examples show how the scrolls of acanthus leaves were used to give more or less weight to the base.

There are also many levels of com-position, taking into account the development from the edge toward inside. The main level or external is defined by external or ornamental forms which are thick and heavy and are located near the outer edge, acanthus leaves and the main-band are also painted the same color, to give unity to the whole panel and act as a harmonic framework combining straight lines and curves.

2.1 Design

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Typical elementsof a filete

Talón: The “Talon”, is the heel of the panel, meaning the space between the architrave moulding band and the sign edge.

Panel Border or Frame:Enclosing all of the composition or working as a support around it.

Bird: highly stylised animal pattern.

Banda: or band, is the thickest volumed line, (often accompanied by the Acanthus Leaf) providing the basic compostional structure.

The Acanthus Leaf:is one of the principal motifs used in Fileteado compostion. In this case the Acanthus leaf has been joined to the moulding.

Cast shadow

Flowers: here are “flats”, four and five leafed petals.

Fir ulete:::the “Firulete” is the finest, most delicate line used, both inside and outside of the architrave moulding.

Bolita: the Spheres, Balls or Pellets are generally used to fill spaces within the design, to decorate letters or punctuate corners.

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1- Flowers:

There are three types, based on their shape: flat, tulips or little bells.

Flat flowers are drawn from a circular, which is divided into four, five or more equal parts, where the petals can be brushed either in a circled, heart-shaped, or lobed way. All petals are equal in size, some space is left among them which highlights the flower even more from the background and usually, they are painted with a concave shape with interior shadows.

Tulip flowers are built from a hemisphere, and they are painted

in that shape. They are more closed, as if looking at a cup from slightly above, and they can be more open or less open. The inner and outer faces are divided into different pet-als and are normally painted in dif-ferent colours. These flowers have a central axis that many times guides or determines the direction of other elements in the composition.

Little Bell flowers are more close-ly knit together than tulips and are built from a cone or a triangle. The outer side has a big fold or cut, through which the inner side –dark-er in colour– can be observed.

Another type of flower that was used in the past in fileteado is the poppy (amapola). It is a very com-mon ornamental flower represent-ed with the convexity of an inside-out tulip, and profusely used by Carlos Carboni. All of these types of flowers can be used in different combinations with each other.

2.4 Motifs and figures

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Description of the most popular motifs used in fileteado porteño

1.Flat flower 5 petals 2. Flat flower 4 petals 3. Tulip flower 4. Poppy 5. Little bell

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3- Acanthus leaves: They are ornamental designs which

can be seen in the arts of diverse cul-tures from ancient times. In the case of fileteado art, plant motifs are taken pri-marily from architectural ornaments, and, usually, acanthus leaves form the structural part of a composition.

There are two main types: the leaf ending in a curl or the leaf integrated with the ribbon previously mentioned. The first type has its foliage adjoined

to a stem that ends in a curl. There is a balance between

the foliage and the curl, so that no one of these elements dominates the other

in the compositional frame. The curling

can be considered

the centre from which the leaves that make up the foliage emerge, that are distributed all throughout the outer part of the composition. The second type has this very same foliage adjoined to a stem that goes on uninterruptedly along the band.

The acanthus leaves foliage is made up of smaller leaves -adjoined to a common stem- that must be set apart from each other, either in their shape or in their direction. This difference emphasizes the dynamic essence of fileteado and avoids monotony in the design.

Each acanthus leaf has its volume accentuated, and the leaf can be con-vex or concave. The leaf structure is built from its veins or axis, and, together with the sharp edges, they constitute the most outstanding part where the light hits the panel, and are emphasized with a bright tone.

Top:1.Acanthus leaf curl ending.

2.Acanthus leaf integrated with the band.

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Left: cantilever detail with acanthus leaf

Bottom:samples of acanthus leaves

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TechniqueIn despite of materials used,

I believe the fileteado technical

knowledge is based on two key

issues: drawing and brush skill

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The filete brush can be recognized by the length of its bristles. The most common ones are made with hair from cow’s ear. The metallic part that holds the bristles is called the ferrule, and it can be round if it is a filete brush, or flat if it is a lettering brush.

Another variety of filete brush is the “banda”, that is a handle-less fer-rule loaded with five-centimetre-long bristles, which is used for longer strokes.

If the brushes are intended to last for a long time, they should be cleaned extensively with mineral spirits if synthetic enamel is used, or with soap and water in case of acrylic paint. It is also desirable to keep these smeared with vaseline or grease and keep them inside a tube, so that the bristles are kept in shape. If the bristles accidentally bend, they can be easily straightened with hot water.

3.1 Brushes and materials

Ferrules, wooden handles and cow ear bristlespacking from a brush factory.

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Using bandas or bands brushes

The bandas are special brushes used to draw longer lines.

Long filetes on spokes and cart wheels, lines dividing two colour lay-outs, borders of panels, designs called “llaves” -used for vehicle decoration-, were all created using the band brush. They were also used for bracket-shaped lines called “bigoteado”.

We will state the differences between the band brush and the filete

brush. The band brushes are held in the same way as the filete brushes but only in a more frontal manner, since they lack a handle, they are held in the hand cavity. It must be loaded with paint carefully over an metal palette, spatula or tile, making sure all the bristles face the same direction and are not entangled.

When painting, the band leans against the surface and then it is dragged slowly with a measured, uni-form stroke, so that it does not vary

in straightness or thickness. The paint load should be controlled so that no drops are allowed, because they can ruin the line if they drop more rapidly when the stroke is being per-formed. As the band progresses it is discharged, causing a thinning of the line that is offset by increasing the pressure slowly. When the band runs out of paint, lift it, reload it and place it on the line just before where it was interrupted, to maintain the same width and concealing the junction.

Filling the band brush Handling the band brush Stroke

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Fileteado art was born as a craft, and, as such, it is carried out using several techniques which evolved and were improved over time, and which changed with the coming of new mate-rials and supports.

Since its very beginning, fileteadores painted their creations with syn-thetic enamel and developed their techniques using this material with long-bristle brushes, all throughout the period when filete was performed on vehicles.

The paint was changing with the change of media and applications, incorporating acrylic paint, oil, make-up, fabric paint, and others as needed. in despite of materials used, I believe the fileteado technical knowledge is based on two key issues: drawing and brush skill . The technique developed here is similar to that performed on vehicles. It is also the oldest and maybe the most forgotten, in which synthetic enamel was on a rigid support and it will be explained in the following steps:

3.3 How to make a filete panel

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Drawing the Fonts

It is not difficult to acquire a certain calligraphic ability if some rules about the making of the alpha-betic characters and the organiza-tion within them are observed. To paint a font it is necessary to define the type of stroke, angle, propor-tion and spacing that it will have, repeating this pattern in the rest and, in this way, drawing an alpha-bet with related characteristics.

A letter can be painted using uni-form strokes (if its thickness is the same), or variable strokes (if letters have differents thickness) as when they are painted with a quill. With the filete brush, these two options can be performed at will.

1- Letters upright: vertical and italic2- Proportion, letter high and large

3- Letter spacing

1-

2-

3-

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Fileteado fonts

Different typography varieties used in fileteado ornaments usually have some features that are repeated no matter their type. We intend to explain some of these features observed in most of the letters designed for fileteado.

First, it is very common that some shapes are added in the letter outline, such as tops in the ends and curved edges used in old French letters —char-acteristic of brush strokes such as those named “fishtail ”— and, in other cases, using broader and more imaginative criteria.

Letters with inner decoration can be seen too, either when they are partially filled with other colours , or when small pearls or other patterns are painted on them. Over the beveled edges where light hits , highlights are added to make the letter stand out even more from the background.

Letter face:

It is the shape of the letter itself, and it is painted first. If it measure is wider, you can decorate it more, adding other colours in the inside part, shadows and highlights to get a bas-relief or bevel effect, a coloured outline, pearls, dia-monds, etc.

Letter raising:

The imitation of raised or blocked letters had its origin no doubt, in the use of thick or proyecting letters made of wood and secured to the sign-board

instead of painted letters, and fileteado use to paint letters in this way. The edges or thickness of these letters are painted a different colour than that of the face of the letter.

Generally, perspective projection is made downwards and to a unique lat-eral vanishing point. The receding lines of the sides of a letter drawn at an angle of 45º with a set square, but it can also be made towards a centre, upwards or downwards when the text is curved or has a semicircular shape.

My own preference for these cases is to project the block to the left and downwards and then to place the pro-

1. Letter face2. Letter thickness

3. Repiqué4. Cast shadow

5. Bevel letter edge6. Face letter bevel

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Filete on vehiclesGradually, the filete on buses deve-

loped, including figures that we

could classify into different groups:

“Turfístico” (horseshoe, jockey cap

and riding crop), “Timbero”

(shaker, dice and cards) and

“Pilchístico” (gloves, hat and cane).

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4.3 Buses

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4

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5

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Fileteado bus scheme by Alberto Pereira

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References

1 Lomo cutting on the front roof2 Internal number3 Mudguard trim4 Custom design5 Windows trim6 Talón de pollera (skirt heel)7 Roof stripe or poncho8 Space for route letters and line number9 Rain drain or gotera10 Lomo cutting on the back roof11 Coco cutting on the back roof12 Side molding13 Space for company name14 Panel stripe or bagueta15 Skirt stripe or bagueta de pollera16 Space for patterns on request (see on right)17 Bumper blades18 Skirt or pollera19 Wheel cover20 Filete on wheels

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Filete today

Working like a designer and

an artist, I managed to do

a lot of works in the advertising

field, graphic and clothing design,

bodypainting, and tattoo,

in a process that continues

even to this day.

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5.1 Signs

Aguilera Guitars - (Brighton - 2008)synthetic enamel on hardboard, 300 x 50 cm

Caminito Havanna (2009)synthetic enamel on metal sheet, 240 x 100 cm

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5.2 Advertising

Painted bottles on differents brands, synthetic enamel on glass

Alejandro Dolina books covers

Top:Villa del Sur, design for place mat

Button:Club del vino, cover magazine

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Top: Evian bottle artwork

Left: Aiwa sign, acrilic on canvas 130 x 100 cm

Bottom: CD covers designs and ACI world 2007 logo